Once Upon a Time in Hogsmeade
by callistana
Summary: Cress Darnel is finally on her First Official Date with Captain Carswell Thorne. Only, she's not sure if the (ex-)Quidditch Captain knows it's a date. And she doesn't quite know how to go about asking. (Hogwarts AU, set post-Cress)


It was gloriously warm and cozy inside The Three Broomsticks, but the warmth of the flames flickering beneath Madam Rosmerta's enormous bar-side cauldron was nothing compared to the red-hot heat that Cress felt burning in the pit of her stomach.

Outside, rain pelted the windows like bullets, drenching the masses of students who had decided not to let a silly thing like dismal Scottish weather ruin the last Hogsmeade weekend of the term. Through the steamed-up window, Cress spotted her close friends, seventh year students Scarlet Benoit and Ze'ev Kesley, sneaking into the Shrieking Shack. Cress would ordinarily have stayed in Ravenclaw Tower with Kai on such a miserably wet day. But today was no ordinary day.

Today was her First Official Date with Carswell Thorne.

Or, she hoped it was, anyway. She hadn't quite gotten around to asking Carswell exactly what it was they were doing here yet – but they were alone together in a pub and Thorne had insisted on opening the door for her and pulling out her chair. That _had_ to mean something. Right? Cress racked her brain for what else a date usually entailed, but her limited knowledge of the world of dating came entirely from her collection of American muggle films, and she wasn't sure that they were reliable.

Thorne had managed to get them a small, rickety table by the fireplace, and as soon as they sat down Cress shrugged off her wet winter robes and gloves. She closed her eyes and sighed, tilting her head back, letting the heat seep into her soaked skin. When she opened her eyes, she saw Thorne watching her. They both looked quickly away.

She wished she could be sure of what Carswell wanted. Was this really a date? Or were they just two friends hanging out outside of school? She'd imagined their first date countless times. In her fantasies, he always took her to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, where they'd gaze at each other from across the small table, and maybe hold hands over the sugar bowl. But now that she knew Thorne – _really_ knew him – the idea of him ever stepping into Madam Puddifoot's seemed ridiculous. And looking back, the fantasy seemed silly and childish. Maybe Thorne wasn't the boy she'd dreamed he was, but she wasn't that girl anymore, either.

"Uh, so, d'you want a butterbeer?" Thorne asked her, rubbing his cold hands on his jeans. He seemed nervous, which was strange, because he'd been in high spirits just moments ago as they trudged down the path to Hogsmeade village with Kai and Cinder.

"Yes, please." She reached for her purse, but Thorne waved her away, already heading over to the bar.

He's _paying_. Cress felt ridiculously giddy. Definitely date behaviour. If Iko, the ghost of Hufflepuff House, were here, she'd probably be swooning over the gesture. Cress smiled at the thought. She would have to remember every second of today so she could narrate it back to Iko in Transfiguration on Monday. Although Iko was a ghost, she liked to sit in on their lessons and pretend to be one of the living students. She'd recently taken a shine to Cress, probably because of her new friendship with Cinder, whom Iko adored.

Of course, Cinder would probably have tons of stories to share with Iko on Monday too. Cress wondered where she and Kai were now. Even if Cress and Thorne weren't here on a date, Kai and Cinder _definitely_ were.

* * *

><p><em>"What do you see in Carswell Thorne, anyway?" Kai had asked her one night as they checked each other's astronomy homework by the fire in the Ravenclaw Common Room.<em>

_Cress smiled dreamily as she corrected a mistake on Kai's lunar calendar. "_Everything_," she sighed. "He's charming, he's funny, he's loyal, he's clever –"_

_"Please," Kai scoffed. He sounded unusually tense. "You only like him because he's handsome."_

_"You only don't like him because he's handsome," Cress retorted. Kai's crush on Cinder was the worst kept secret in the school, and even though there was nothing romantic between Cinder and Thorne, their closeness seemed to intimidate him._

_Kai shuffled uncomfortably. They'd never actually discussed his feelings for Cinder. She knew that his father, the Minister for Magic, was pressuring him to date Levana, a recent Hogwarts graduate with good connections in the Wizarding World. Cress had met Kai's father once, when Kai had invited her and a few other Ravenclaws to his house one summer. Minister Rikan been friendly enough, but distant and intimidatingly neat. She couldn't imagine Cinder – who regularly strode into the Great Hall for breakfast with grease on her cheeks, wand stuck in her hair, and a muggle device tucked under her arm – ever fitting in with a family like Kai's._

_Cinder was a muggleborn in Cress and Kai's year, infamous throughout the school as the girl who could get her hands on muggle tech and fix it up to work within Hogwarts. Some students looked down on Cinder for her muggle parentage and the strange magical prosthetics Professor Moody had made for her in their fourth year, but Cinder didn't let it bother her. She had a tight-knit group of friends – a group Cress knew both she and Kai desperately wanted to be part of._

_Kai wanted to get close to Cinder. Cress wanted to get closer to Carswell Thorne._

_Carswell Thorne wasn't just Cinder's best friend. Up until a few weeks ago, he had been the school's best and most ardently admired Quidditch player. Boys and girls alike had swooned as he passed them on his way down to the pitch, smirking like a professional model, broomstick slung carelessly over his shoulder. With him on the team, Slytherin had won the Cup five years running, and there was even talk of Carswell Thorne earning a spot as a substitute chaser for the Wimbourne Wasps after seventh year, when, out of the blue, Thorne's reputation was destroyed in a single night. It had caused quite a stir – he'd stolen Sybil Mira's broomstick, a Firebolt once owned by the legendary seeker Darla Rampion. The crime had cost him his spot on the Quidditch team (along with his popularity) and an entire month of detentions, but for unknown reasons, he had refused to return it to Sybil._

_Rampion's broomstick… that had been the start of everything, really._

_Cress hadn't meant to find it. Well, okay, she had, but she hadn't really thought that she _could_. It had been all anyone in the school was talking about. And she'd been crushing on Carswell Thorne for months. Finding the place where he'd stashed Rampion's broomstick seemed like the perfect way to finally approach him. She'd imagined herself – or, a taller, more confident version of herself – waltzing into the Slytherin Common Room (in her imagination, she'd also easily found and gained entrance to the Slytherins' underground dormitory), batting her eyelids and casually mentioning that she'd just happened to stumble across the castle's best-kept secret. She imagined his jaw dropping, his wide blue eyes fixed on her in rapt amazement, and his eager acceptance of her offer to help him hide it in a more secure location. His flattery as he asked if she'd like to stop by the pitch and watch him train sometime…_

_Nothing her imagination dreamt up could possibly have prepared her for their _real_ first meeting._

* * *

><p>It took a while for Thorne to push through the crowded pub clutching two tankards brimming with butterbeer. He was glad of it, in a way. As soon as he'd sat down with Cress, all the clever, funny things he'd been planning to say to her were forgotten, and his mind had suddenly seemed frustratingly empty.<p>

When he reached their table, Cress was sitting back in the wooden chair, legs tucked up beneath her, warming her hands on the fire. A small smile dimpled her cheeks, and the firelight brought out the freckles on her nose. She looked lovely. The bundle of nervous energy in Thorne's stomach churned unpleasantly.

He set their drinks on the table and Cress smiled up at him. He smiled back, and then felt ridiculous for worrying because this was _Cress_. They'd been friends for a while now – they'd even kissed that one time. _This_ was nothing to be nervous about.

He tugged off his Slytherin scarf and followed Cress' lead, warming his hands on the fire. He glanced up at her. She was watching him. They both looked quickly away again, but this time, their eyes darted shyly back. Nervous smiles were exchanged.

The awful churning feeling in Thorne's stomach suddenly seemed quite pleasant.

"I was just thinking of the first time we met," Cress said after a moment. "Do you remember?"

Thorne smirked. "How could I forget?"

* * *

><p><em>Cress had been having a spectacularly bad morning. First, she'd overslept and arrived twenty minutes late for Charms, where Professor Konn had sighed disapprovingly and handed her a detention slip. Then, she'd been partnered with Jina, whom she'd never particularly liked. They were meant to be practicing a Hair-Thickening charm on Jina's pet rat, but Jina, who had terrible aim, had managed to charm Cress' hair instead. The class had erupted with laughter as Cress' short bob of blonde curls transformed into a tangled mess which wouldn't stop growing.<em>

_Professor Konn had excused her immediately, and with tears welling up behind her eyes, Cress made her way to the Hospital Wing, trying not to trip over the hair which was now trailing along the ground behind her. She managed to make it down to the first floor without incident, but her hair was growing heavier and heavier, and soon she had to carry it in her arms. A few sixth-years giggled as she ran past them, and she ducked her head down in humiliation. The Hospital Wing was just one more corridor away; she turned the last corner, and –_

_An enormous body blocked her path, and she squeaked, jumping backwards in alarm, hair flying out of her arms. Two strong arms steadied her as the unusual weight of her hair threatened to send her tumbling to the floor._

_"Merlin's beard," an achingly familiar voice said loudly. "Is that all hair?"_

_She looked up. Carswell Thorne peered under the shoulder of the massive Hufflepuff boy who was holding her still. Cress felt her cheeks burn and she ducked her head down again. Scarlet Benoit, a pretty, curvy Gryffindor girl Cress knew but had never spoken to, poked Carswell hard in the side._

_"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What was that for?"_

_Scarlet ignored him. She reached for the other boy's arm. "Ze'ev," she said. He blinked at her, then seemed to relax. Cress realised, numbly, that he had been holding her arms rather tight._

_"Are you okay?" Scarlet asked Cress in a gentle voice._

_Cress managed a nod. Still determinedly not looking at Carswell Thorne, she glanced up at the other boy – Ze'ev. Up close, he was remarkably tall and bulky and, frankly, frightening. "Th-Thank you."_

_Ze'ev didn't respond, but he let go of her arms and patted her awkwardly on the shoulder._

_Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Sorry about these boys," she said, poking Ze'ev now. "They're idiots. I don't know why I put up with them."_

_"Our dashing good looks?" Carswell suggested. A loud snort behind him made them all turn. Cinder had just exited the Hospital Wing. Cress realised now that they'd all been hovering outside the Hospital Wing waiting for her. Cinder was a regular; Cress had once overheard that she attended physical therapy sessions with Doctor Erland weekly._

_"Cress?" Cinder asked now. For a moment, Cress was surprised that Cinder knew her name. "What happened?" She reached out with her magical blue arm._

_"Hair-Thickening Charm," Cress said miserably._

_Cinder and Scarlet leapt into action, gathering up Cress' hair for her, and guiding her through the Hospital Wing doors. The boys trailed in after them. Cress waited for them all to leave – surely Cinder and her friends had classes to get to? – but they stayed with her while Doctor Erland, a kindly man who had always seemed particularly fond of Cress, ordered her to a bed and brewed up an antidote. Cinder took it upon herself to introduce her friends while they waited._

_"And this is –" Cinder began, gesturing to Carswell, but he cut her off._

_"Captain Carswell Thorne," he said with a roguish grin, raising a hand for Cress to shake._

_Beside him, Cinder rolled her eyes. "How many times? You can't go around introducing yourself like that anymore. You were kicked off the team.I'm as much a Quidditch captain as you are now."_

_Thorne appeared to be pretending not to hear her. Cress, meanwhile, was in shock. _Carswell Thorne was speaking to her. He was smiling at her._ And her mind, for once, failed her. No matter how many times she'd imagined this moment, now that it was finally here she couldn't think of a single thing to say._

_Thorne's grin faltered as it became apparent that Cress wasn't going to shake his hand, and he let it drop awkwardly to his side. "Um, but you can call me Thorne."_

_"Okay," she said quickly. "I mean – um – it's – it's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Thorne."_

_As soon as the words left her mouth, Cress wanted to shrivel up and die. _Captain Thorne?_ Oh, Merlin. He probably thought she was flirting with him. Not that she didn't _want_ to flirt with him, but –_

_Thorne laughed delightedly. "I like your friend already," he said to Cinder in a low voice that made Cress flush with pleasure._

_"I actually know all about you," Cress said in a rush. When Thorne raised an eyebrow she hurried to correct herself. "I mean – I don't know everything about you, obviously, I just meant – well, I heard what you did. Stealing Rampion's broomstick from Sybil."_

_"Oh." Thorne seemed pleased. "Yeah. Well, Darla was an old family friend. She taught me how to fly. And I know she would never have wanted her broomstick to end up in the hands of a hag like Sybil –"_

_"Thorne!" Scarlet admonished._

_Cress didn't mind. Sybil was a Ravenclaw, and she'd been forced to share a dormitory with the other girl for five years. She knew Sybil well – from years of taunts and hair-pulling – and she privately agreed with Thorne._

_"I've been trying to find where you hid it," she admitted. "And I think I've figured it out."_

_"You and the rest of the school," Thorne replied in a smug voice._

_"Well, that's just it, isn't it?" Cress said eagerly. "Everyone's been searching the school. But it seems silly, really, to search indoors for an object that can fly –" Cress abruptly stopped talking, aware that Thorne and his friends were all staring very intently at her. Warmth flooded her cheeks. She'd never liked being the centre of attention._

_"That is… Merlin's beard." Thorne shook his head slowly, a wry grin beginning to spread across his cheeks. "That's brilliant. Brilliant, Cress."_

_Cress thought she'd never heard sweeter words in her entire life._

_"I've narrowed it down to five possible locations," she continued, speaking slowly in an attempt to calm her racing heart. "I'm sure I'll find it soon."_

_Thorne leaned forward, his bright blue eyes twinkling with mischief. Cress could hardly believe he was right in front of her, showing her the interest she'd always secretly longed for._

_"Well, then," he said, tucking a ridiculously long and unruly strand of hair behind her ear in a move that made her almost certain that he was flirting (behind him, Cinder and Scarlet rolled their eyes simultaneously). "I hope you'll let me know when you do."_

* * *

><p>Cress felt her cheeks warming again at the memory of lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by a tangled mess of hair, desperately trying to impress the most popular boy in the school. Really, she should have known then that it would all go disastrously wrong.<p>

Although, right now, her chances of success were looking considerably better.

Thorne looked nervous once again. He nursed his butterbeer with one hand, adjusting his glasses with the other. "I – uh – I never apologised," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "Um… for giving you the wrong impression, I mean."

The weightless warm glow in Cress' stomach suddenly dropped like a cold, hard lump of coal. "Oh?" she asked weakly.

Thorne looked down at his feet. "Yeah," he continued, "I mean, not when we met, but… what happened after that day – on the astronomy tower, and afterwards –"

"It's okay," Cress said quickly. She was grasping her butterbeer flagon so tight that she thought it might smash at any moment. She didn't want to think about what had happened to them on the astronomy tower. She especially didn't want to think about what had happened afterwards. "You don't have to say anything. I know."

Thorne's eyes darted up to hers. "You do?" he asked. Cress could see a flicker of hope in his eyes – hope that they could still be friends.

"Of course." Shakily, Cress brought her flagon to her lips, although she didn't feel remotely thirsty. She looked at the table, and then at a stray thread on her robes, and then at the fire. Anywhere but him. She took a deep breath. "Don't worry," she said. "I feel exactly the same way."

* * *

><p><em>Their fall from the astronomy tower occurred three weeks after their first meeting.<em>

_It was Cress' fault. She knew that if she hadn't been so distracted by the attention Thorne had been showing her, she might also have noticed that Sybil had been paying a little more attention to her than usual._

_Of course, later, as they stumbled back up to the castle doors, Thorne refused to let her take sole responsibility. After all, he'd been bragging about her genius for weeks, teasing the entire school with offhand remarks that only he and Cress know where Rampion's broomstick was hidden._

_They'd managed to escape unscathed… well, partly unscathed. Thorne's glasses were cracked, and he'd received a nasty blow to the back of his head when Sybil cursed him, but Cress hadn't injured anything but her dignity._

_The night hadn't started badly. In fact, it had started brilliantly. Cress had been anxious and excited all day, ever since breakfast, when she spotted the owl she'd sent to Carswell Thorne swoop low over the Slytherin table. She saw his eyes widen as he read the words she'd written: _Meet me where it's hidden. Midnight tonight.

_The rest of the day trickled forward at an agonisingly slow pace. She hadn't had a chance to speak with him, but they caught each other's eyes as they exited the Great Hall after dinner, and she saw him flash her a flirty smile and a quick nod. At half past eleven, unable to wait a moment longer, Cress had patted her hair down one last time, cast a disillusionment charm on herself, and tip-toed out of the Ravenclaw common room._

_Unfortunately, the Ravenclaw common room hadn't been empty as she left._

_Thorne, it seemed, had also been too excited to wait until the clock struck twelve. When she reached the top of the astronomy tower and removed the charm which kept her more-or-less invisible, he was already waiting for her._

_"Well," he said cheerfully, taking her hand and tugging her up as she climbed the last step, "I'm glad to see you here. It would have been embarrassing for both of us if you'd gotten it wrong. I'd have been left standing here alone all night, looking like an idiot."_

_"You can't look like an idiot if there's no one there to see you," Cress replied._

_Thorne settled back against the tower's edge, folding his arms across his chest and looking as though he didn't have a care in the world. "Speaking of things which can't be seen," he said, "how in Merlin's name did you find it?"_

_Cress wandered over to where he stood. "It was easy, really," she said, honestly. "Once I'd narrowed it down to a position outside the castle walls, I know you'd want to keep it high up. You wouldn't want a student to bump into it accidentally._

_"But you'd also want to keep it within reaching distance," she continued. "Which meant it would most likely be hovering just above the windows of one of the castle's highest towers._

_"Your dormitory is underground, so I knew it couldn't be there. I considered Gryffindor Tower, but you'd need Cinder's help to hide it outside her common room, and she seemed to be genuinely surprised when I mentioned its whereabouts in the Hospital Wing."_

_Thorne was grinning now. "Clever," he said. "I did consider Gryffindor Tower for a while, but you know how Gryffindors get. Dangling each other out the windows for fun every other week. I didn't want to risk it."_

_Cress laughed and carried on. "Of course, I ruled out Ravenclaw Tower immediately. None of your immediate friends are Ravenclaws – _were_ Ravenclaws," she corrected with a smile, after Thorne opened his mouth to object. "I knew that if you hadn't trusted Cinder with your plan, you wouldn't trust a Ravenclaw with it."_

_Thorne nudged her. "I could make an exception if the Ravenclaw in question was pretty enough," he teased._

_Cress beamed. There was no doubt about it now; he was _definitely_ flirting. She could hardly believe how easy it was to talk with him. Three weeks ago, she'd found it difficult to string together a few sentences when he was in the same room as her, and now…_

_"No need," she said. "This Ravenclaw figured it out for herself." She grasped the railing where Thorne leaned, and used it push herself up, onto the smooth stone window ledge. She undid the latch, and the window sprang open. Up this high, the cold winter wind was brutal and she had to hold onto the edge of the window frame to steady herself as cold air came rushing in. Cress didn't dare look down._

_Behind her, Thorne looked like he didn't know whether to be impressed or worried for her. "Okay, genius," he said. "You won. Come down from there, let me get it. You won't be tall enough to reach –"_

_Cress heard a whispered incantation, a small gasp as Thorne was caught off guard, a muffled thump, and then silence._

_"Carswell?" she asked, spinning around only to be brought face-to-face with none other than Sybil Mira. On the ground beside her, Thorne lay locked in what appeared to be the Full Body-Bind Curse._

_Sybil smiled smugly. "Hello, Crescent," she said, wand outstretched. "I believe you have something of mine."_

* * *

><p>Thorne let out a relieved laugh.<p>

He'd been so sure that Cress' feelings for him had been nothing more than a passing crush. And stupidly, he hadn't even realised his own feelings for her until that night. But now, here Cress was, assuring him that she felt the same way.

"That's…" he trailed off, aware that he was grinning stupidly, but not sure how to stop. "That's great, Cress. Really… _really_ great."

_Understatement of the century._

Cress didn't seem to think it was so great. She smiled back at him, but there was something wrong with her smile. It didn't seem genuine. Thorne saw her lip tremble with the effort of holding her fake smile in place, and he felt his own grin slide off his face.

"Cress?" he asked gently. He reached out to take her hand in his, and was alarmed to see tears welling up behind her eyes. "Hey, hey," he said. "It's okay." He quickly transfigured his flagon into a box of tissues and handed one to her.

"I'm s-s-sorry," she mumbled, drying her eyes. "It's fine, really –"

Thorne dragged his chair closer to hers, letting go of her hand to drape his arm across her shoulders in a much more platonic gesture of comfort. That sour, uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach was back again, and this time, it felt permanent.

"Look," he said, trying to sound as soothing as possible. "I know I screwed things up, but I really like you Cress. And… and it's okay if you don't feel the same way I do. You don't, do you?"

Cress shook her head miserably.

"Well, then that's that," Thorne said, trying to sound more cheerful than he felt. "I don't want you to pretend to feel something you don't. We can still be friends, right? That's okay with me. More than okay, really. I'd… I'd really like it if we could still be friends, Cress."

"I know," Cress mumbled into his shoulder. "I know that's what you want, I'm just not sure if I'm ready for that."

Thorne was confused.

"Oh," he said. Even to his own ears his voice sounded odd as he struggled to make sense of the last few minutes. "You mean… _you_ don't want to just be friends?"

Cress sat up straight, distancing herself from him slightly. Her eyes were wide. "Wait," she said, and it looked like she was reconsidering his words, too. "When you say you really like me…"

"I mean I really, _really_ like you," Thorne said quickly. He wanted to take her hand again, but her fingers were curled into fists, gripping the tissue he'd given her like it was a lifeline.

"And," she said slowly, "when you say you're sorry for giving me the wrong impression…"

"I mean… I'm sorry for giving you the wrong impression that night beneath the astronomy tower. When I pulled away. It took me a while to realise how much I liked you."

* * *

><p><em>Cress knew she had to think fast.<em>

_Rampion's broomstick was hidden well; Thorne had charmed it excellently and even this close, a summoning charm wouldn't work. She knew, because she'd come up here the day before, to prove her suspicions correct. Even though it wasn't visible, she knew exactly where it was – inches from her fingertips. She also knew that as soon as she handed it over to Sybil, she'd be as petrified as Thorne, and they'd both be discovered at dawn by the caretaker. Her cheeks burned at the thought of the rumours that would spread, never mind the trouble they'd get into._

_"Hand it over," Sybil said, reaching out with her free hand without lowering her wand. Her smile twisted unpleasantly, and Cress was reminded of all the times Sybil had bullied her over the years – teasing her over her muggle foster parents, and how difficult she found Potions class, and how she was only friends with the Minister for Magic's son because he felt sorry for her…_

_Her heart hardened; her mind cleared. Kai wasn't her only friend, not anymore. She had Thorne, and Cinder, and Scarlet, and even Ze'ev too. She wasn't going to let Sybil's empty words beat her down again._

_"Just give me a minute," she said, trying to sound meek and harmless. "It's pretty high up."_

_Sybil rolled her eyes. "Or, you're half-house elf," she grumbled._

_Cress leaned further out the window, concealing her left side from Sybil's view. It was difficult, removing her wand from the sleeve of her robe with one hand, but she managed it just in time. Sybil had gotten bored of waiting and was edging closer. Cress' one escape route, the door leading down to the castle, was open._

_"Where is it?" Sybil asked, frowning._

_Cress crouched down, holding the window frame with her right hand. She tried to stall. If she could get Sybil away from the door for long enough... "It's just here. Come, take a look. You could get it yourself, I'm sure. You're taller than me."_

_But Sybil drew back to the door. "I don't think so," she sneered. "I'm not falling for your tricks, mudblood."_

_Frozen on the floor beside them, Thorne looked furious. His eyes met Cress' behind his cracked glasses. But Cress, who had heard worse, didn't respond. An idea was finally forming in her mind. The door wasn't their only way out…_

_All she needed was a distraction. And luckily enough, Sybil had provided one herself._

_Thorne couldn't move or speak, but he'd let out a low, angry noise at Sybil's last words. Sybil turned to him, and laughed. That was all the opportunity Cress needed._

_"Expelliarmus!"_

_Sybil's wand flew from her hand and clattered onto the stone steps._

_"What –"_

_"Accio Thorne!" Cress cried. For a moment, she was afraid it wouldn't work; then Thorne's prone body soared towards her and she grabbed a hold of him just as she let go of the window frame and allowed herself to fall._

_Cress laughed in delight as Sybil shrieked in frustration and Rampion's broomstick carried them smoothly down to the lawn below._

* * *

><p>Cress stared at him.<p>

Had she drank too much butterbeer and fallen asleep by the fireplace? As much as she'd hoped for exactly this, now that it was happening, it seemed impossible that everything Thorne was saying was true. Had he honestly thought that she didn't have feelings for him anymore? Did he honestly like her in the same way?

"Is this a date?" she blurted out.

Thorne suddenly looked terrified. "Um… if you, I mean, uh, do _you_ want it to be?"

"Yes," she said quickly. "Um, I mean, maybe. Do _you_ want it to be?"

Thorne buried his face in his hands. "This is ridiculous," he groaned. "Why is this so difficult?"

Cress privately thought that they were making it much more difficult than it needed to be, simply because they were both so afraid of hurting each other's feelings again, like they had that night on the lawn beneath the astronomy tower.

It had been the most embarrassing experience of Cress' life. Overwhelmed by the night's events and feeling closer than ever to Thorne, she'd removed the Full Body-Bind Curse Sybil had placed on him, and then reached up to kiss him full on the lips. The older boy had let her down gently.

Well, she'd thought he had. He'd pulled away when she'd tried to kiss him. But they'd hung out a few times since then with Kai and Cinder in tow, and when he'd invited her to Hogsmeade with him, she'd thought that meant...

No. No more theorising. If she wanted to know how he felt, all she had to do was be honest about how _she_ felt.

"I want this to be a date," she said firmly.

Thorne looked up at her. "Me too," he said sheepishly.

"Did you not like the kiss?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

Thorne laughed. "Cress, are you kidding?" He grinned. "Trust me, I liked the kiss. I just…" He made a small noise of frustration and ran a hand through his hair. "This is embarrassing," he admitted. "But I've never really been in a relationship with a girl I actually _liked_ hanging out with. And I think part of me wanted to pretend that I still only liked you as a friend because I was scared of losing that.

"And…" He looked up at her, nervously. Cress noticed that his ears had turned bright pink. "I've kind of known for a while that you had a crush on me. Before we met, I mean. You made it sort of obvious that day in the Hospital Wing. And I didn't want you to kiss me just because you were caught up in some idealised fantasy version of me."

"I'm not," Cress said quickly. "I mean… maybe I was, then," she admitted. "But I'm not anymore."

Tentatively, Thorne reached over and curled his hand around hers once more. "So, this is a date, then?"

"I think so," Cress said. "I mean – yes. Yes, this is a date."

"Good." Thorne stood up, pulling her to her feet with him. "Because I'd really like to kiss you again at the end of the night, if that's alright with you."

"That's alright with me," Cress said firmly, entwining her fingers with his as they made their way through the pub, towards the door.

"We've still got some time left before that, though," Thorne said. He looked down at her, grinning happily. "Want to check out Honeydukes?" he asked.

Cress beamed. "I'd really, really like that, Captain."


End file.
